Bizspace Spotlight

Traditional in-your-face advertising does not work for women who encounter your brand via mobile device. So, how do you carefully balance advertising in this digital age?

A recent marketing study by Time Inc. and Nuance Digital Marketing found that a majority of women dislike intrusive mobile ads but are receptive to relevant or topical ones, especially if they include location-based offers. In other words, businesses taking the traditional approach to advertising in a digital world are missing their target.

The study sheds some light on the issue and finds that women are wedded to their phones. Seventy-eight percent â€œsay itâ€™s the first thing they look at in the morning.â€ And a whopping 98 percent â€œsay itâ€™s with them wherever they go.â€ If their phones are with them wherever they go, you want to make sure your business or brand goes with them.

In order to do this, make sure your website is mobile optimized. Iâ€™m always surprised by the number of websites that are Flash-based and cannot be viewed on either an iPad or an iPhone. This removes many peopleâ€™s primary method of Internet access, equating to hundreds of millions of lost views and impressions.

But websites arenâ€™t the only way customers interact with your brand on the Internet.

The study found that 72 percent of women use their phone to access social sites. Your business needs to incorporate a social experience that is meaningful to your audience. Find out what moves your target audience and then create content that can be shared via various social platforms, i.e. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.

The study also found that 55 percent of women use their phones to shop. When it comes to shopping, women use their smartphones in a much more integrated way than men do. Not only do women shop, but they research, bookmark, browse and guide their future buying decisions. For example, 32 percent of women use their smartphones to make wish lists; only 26 percent of men do. Twenty-three percent of women also use their phones to collect coupons compared to only 14 percent of men. Forty-eight percent of women use their phones to make shopping lists; only 38 percent of men do. And 52 percent of women use their phones to share photos of their purchases while only 35 percent of men do.

With women being a key target via mobile, the question is how to do you target advertising that appeals to them?

First, 91 percent of women donâ€™t like intrusive ads on their mobiles, but under the right circumstances, they noted that ads can be welcome. The study further notes that 41 percent of women are open to ads that let them control the experience. Fifty-two percent said they are more interested in ads that are relevant to the content being consumed. This means context matters. You want to get the audience in the right frame of mind to better accept the category in which youâ€™re selling.

Women like to shop, so make it easy for them. Forty-one percent of the women in this study noted that they like ads that give location-based offers. Make sure your advertisements give women more excuses to shop and point them in the right direction, literally.

If your target audience is women, the likelihood is that they not only are online, but online via a mobile device. Therefore, create meaningful content and be sure to distribute it where your audience works, plays and shops â€” on their phones.

Debi Hammond is president and CEO of Merlot Marketing Inc., a Sacramento-based branding, advertising, social media and public relations agency. Contact her at debi@merlotmarketing.com.